ḥuḥtakšiiḥsiš ciiqciqasa
I’m learning to speak our language
“Some have said that our language and culture are lost. They’re not really lost, they’ve been put away for now and it’s our children who will be bringing them back.”
Meaning “all along the mountains and sea,” the Nuu-chah-nulth language is spoken by 14 Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations made up of 10,000 members in three regions on Vancouver Island’s West Coast. ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ speak the central dialect of the Nuu-chah-nulth language.
The ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ Language Department is engaged in many revitalization projects; ƛ̓iiʔiik (Tsimka Martin) and t̓at̓uusʔaqsa (Deb Masso) lead weekly Language Classes over Zoom which are open to language learners of all skill levels, while our Digitization Team archives language resources and compiles interviews, songs and cultural materials that contain invaluable information from our rich past. The team also records our remaining fluent speakers to ensure their voices may continue to guide us for many years to come.
We will continue to build resources to ensure that any ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ members may have access to the knowledge they need to connect with their ancestors and their culture through learning their language.
Check back for updates, events and new ways to engage in our language.
Downloadable Resources
-
Download the language lessons below to learn at your own pace.
-
Opening and closing expressions in ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥiicʔi ciqy̓ak (Tla-o-qui-aht language)
The Tla-o-qui-aht Language Department shares and encourages people and organizations to respectfully use the following for communications within the territory. Assist us in increasing the visibility of our language. Your efforts in doing so will support language revitalization. You are invited to cut and paste these greetings into your emails.
-
Here are some language games to make learning more fun. Click on the link to a downloadable resource or it will take you to another website to play a game.
n̓aʔaataḥ
listen
The Nuu-chah-nulth alphabet
The Nuu-chah-nulth alphabet has forty-five letters. This is a phonetic alphabet, which means that each letter represents a different sound, and every sound is represented by only one letter.
Some common words
Learn and listen to how to spell and pronounce some common words in the ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ dialect.
Baby welcoming
Here you will find many resources for your new t̓aatn̓aʔis (small children) including: Baby Names, Lullabies and Songs, Stories, Videos, Prayers, Family Trees and more! Our goal is to help families bring up their little ones with language and cultural teachings.
n̓aaca
seeing, watching
